Safety of shells (Meredith Pitt)

Bivalves diffuse force to their outer edges
while screw-shaped shells send the pressure to their outer rings

The soft creature is protected from the crushing reality
of a weapon in their classroom

Waves of pressure are dispersed around the periphery
of a night club under siege

The complicated ring structure of the auger snail
gives the soft-handed workers somewhere to hide
when their workplace is stormed by killers

Shell-casings lie spent as the tide of soldiers recedes,
leaving two sisters cowering under a car, one swallowing her pain
into complicated structures designed for breath


Meredith-001 (2)Meredith Pitt lives in Sydney. Her poetry

has recently appeared in Meanjin and
Bluepepper.